The FIA GT Championship is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Sports car racing is a form of circuit Auto racing with Automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels The Stéphane Ratel Organisation (abbreviated as SRO) is a Motorsports organization founded by French driver Stéphane Ratel in 1995 The championship is mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents, most lately visiting Asia.
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Regulations
FIA currently defines two categories of GT cars: GT1, or Grand Touring Cars, and GT2, or Series Grand Touring Cars. A grand tourer ( Gran turismo) ( initialised GT) is a high-performance Automobile designed for long-distance driving Each category has an annual driver champion, team champion, and manufacturer champion. Both categories are based on production road car designs, which must be produced in a minimum quantity of 25 examples to qualify. Homologation is a technical term derived from the Greek homologeo (ὁμολογέω for "to agree" which is generally used in English to signify Both types may undergo significant modifications from the road car they are based on, but GT1 allows the use of exotic materials, better aerodynamics, larger brakes, wider tires and larger engine admission restrictors. A brake is a device for slowing or stopping the motion of a Machine or Vehicle, or alternatively a device to restrain it from starting to move again This article is about tires used on road Vehicles including pneumatic tires and solid tires.
For the 2006 season, the FIA has created a new class called GT3. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. GT3 cars are even closer to their production counterparts and are very simply racetrack prepared with the essentials (rollcages for safety, stripped interiors, race spec fuel tanks, etc. ). Prestigious motorsports makes such as Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Dodge, Lamborghini, Ascari and Maserati take part in FIA GT3 European Championship, a support series in some rounds of the main championship. Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury performance cars, whose headquarters are at Gaydon, England. Chevrolet (ˌʃɛvroʊˈleɪ - French origin (also known as Chevy) is a Brand of Automobile, produced by General Motors (GM Dodge is a United States -based brand of Automobiles Sport utility vehicles and Trucks manufactured and marketed by Chrysler LLC Automobili Lamborghini SpA, commonly referred to as Lamborghini, is an Italian manufacturer of Sports cars based in the small Italian Village Ascari Cars Ltd is a British Automobile Manufacturer based in Banbury, United Kingdom. Maserati is an Italian manufacturer of racing cars and Sports cars established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The FIA GT3 European Championship is a Sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO and regulated by the Fédération Internationale
The FIA defines a GT car as "an open or closed automobile which has no more than one door on each side and a minimum of two seats situated one on each side of the longitudinal centre line of the car; these two seats must be crossed by the same transversal plane. A grand tourer ( Gran turismo) ( initialised GT) is a high-performance Automobile designed for long-distance driving This car must be able to be used perfectly legally on the open road, and adapted for racing on circuits or closed courses. "
All races in the FIA GT Championship were of endurance type, a full race distance lasting a minimum of 500km or a maximum of three hours, with the exception of the Spa 24 Hours and the exhibition Mil Milhas Brasileiras, which is run over a thousand miles and was planned to be a round of the championship in 2007. Endurance racing is a form of motorsport which is meant to test the durability of equipment and endurance of participants The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. The Mil Milhas Brasil (also known as the Mil Milhas Brasileiras or 1000 Miles of Brazil in Portuguese) is a sports car endurance race Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. However, with the release of the 2007 FIA GT Championship season schedule and rules, the FIA GT series becomes more of a sprint race event, with all races being a maximum of 2 hours with the exception of the Spa 24 Hours, and no Mil Milhas on the schedule. The 2007 FIA GT Championship season was the 11th season of FIA GT Championship. The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.
History
- For information on the earlier series, see BPR Global GT Series. The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR.
In 1997, due to increasing interest from manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Panoz, the FIA took over control of the expanding BPR Global GT Series, standardizing the race-length at 500 km instead of the usual four hours, liberalizing the technical regulations and leaving commercial exploitation in the hands of one of BPR's founders, Stéphane Ratel, who managed to get TV support from the pan-European TV station Eurosport. Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of luxury Automobiles Buses coaches and Trucks It is currently a division of the Porsche SE or Porsche ( German, ˈpɔɹʃə is a German manufacturer of automobiles which is majority-owned by the Porsche and Piëch Panoz Auto Development is an American manufacturer of high-performance automobiles founded in 1989 by Dan Panoz, son of pharmaceutical and motorsport mogul Don Panoz The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR. Eurosport is the largest European sports Satellite and cable network available in 54 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages The new manufacturers built "homologation specials", racing-bred cars that took full advantage of the new rules, to build quasi-prototypes with very limited production runs of 25 cars. Chrysler, Lister and Marcos, not wanting to accompany the cost escalation, moved down to the GT2 class. Chrysler LLC is an American Automobile manufacturer that has been producing Automobiles since 1925 Lister Cars is a British Sports car manufacturer. George Lister and Sons Beginning in 1954 company manager and racing driver Brian
This proved to be the wisest move, as Mercedes completely dominated the new category and the other manufacturers pulled out after the end of the 1998 season. This left Chrysler's Viper to become the dominating car in the series, with the aging Porsche 993 GT2 and the Lister Storm providing a certain degree of competition. The Dodge Viper is a V10 -powered Sports car manufactured by the Dodge division of Chrysler LLC. The Lister Storm was a homologated racing car built by Lister Cars of the United Kingdom beginning in 1993.
However, there was no lower inexpensive category for amateur drivers, and this led to the creation of the N-GT class in 2000. While the manufacturer field in the main class blossomed, the new category became swamped with Porsches and Ferraris, but lower running costs meant both classes enjoyed a balanced number of entries. In order to boost the championship's status, the SRO added the 24 Hours of Spa, previously a touring car race, to the calendar, where it became the series' most important race. The Total 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing event held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. Touring car racing is a general term for a number of distinct Auto racing competitions in heavily-modified street cars The FIA also banned official manufacturer involvement, although certain teams had preferential treatment, with Porsche establishing a "round robin" system.
After the end of the 2004 season, the FIA renamed the classes GT1 and GT2, and somewhat liberalized the GT1 regulations, allowing "supercars". While this was made to accommodate the Saleen S7, the biggest beneficiary was the purpose-built Maserati MC12, which lead the FIA to impose aerodynamic limitations on the Italian car. Development The Saleen S7 was Saleen's first car to be completely developed digitally using tools such as Unigraphics and Rhinoceros 3D. The Maserati MC12 is a Grand tourer produced by Maserati to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. However, thanks to a weight penalty system, the fight for the championship is protected from more domineering cars. The level of competition remains tight, with gentlemen drivers managing to fight for the wins with professional drivers, some of them with Formula 1 experience.
Split with the World Touring Car Championship
Before 2006, both the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) and the FIA GT Championship were broadcast by Eurosport. The World Touring Car Championship ( WTCC) is an international Touring Car championship organized by the FIA. Eurosport is the largest European sports Satellite and cable network available in 54 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages But Eurosport requested SRO, the FIA GT Championship organizers, to shorten their races from 3 hours to 2 hours. SRO refused and since then it has not been on the bill with the WTCC.
Ironically, after a year looking for European broadcasters for their 3 hour races, the SRO decided that for 2007, the FIA GT Championship races will be shortened to 2 hours.
Champions
See also
- Gran Turismo (racing)
- GTR - FIA GT Racing Game
- GTR - FIA GT Racing Game 2
- BPR Global GT Series
- World Sportscar Championship
External links
- FIA GT Championship official site
- FIA International
- 2006 FIA GT Championship Course Dates
- GT Rules and Regulations
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